On Board of the MS ALM

Welcome on board of the ms Alm. The Alm is a river barge which is owned by a wonderful and very hospitable Dutch skipper family. The skipper and his wife operate this river barge together. For years it was my wish to find a way to have a vacation on an operational river barge. And then one day when browsing again for it I found a link on the Internet meevarenopeenschip.nl . YES, there is a ship on which I can book a stay for a week. I went on board in May 2016 and the rest is history…
At the moment you book your trip, it is unknown where you will go to, you even might be in a harbor for a couple of days. It is of course a working barge, no cruise ship, and it all depends on the cargo and the destination. I was a lucky one, we were on the move the whole week, right after we had loaded wood chips in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands for Wittingen, Germany. A stretch of about 500 km over several rivers and canals.

A trip with many, many, many bridges. Some so low that the wheelhouse needs to be lowered otherwise you will not be able to pass the bridge. Modern technique makes this an easier task nowadays. Back in my days on the river it meant that my dad would take down the wooden wheelhouse and build it up again after we had left the canal and were back on the river again.

Just a few bridges for you to enjoy:

A destroyed one…

At night…

During the day…

And of course there are also many locks to bridge the water level differences…
Lock at Amerongen, The Netherlands
Waiting for our turn at Hünxe Lock, Germany
The Hindenburgschleuse in Hannover-Anderten, Germany.

The Hindenburgschleuse in Hannover-Anderten is part of the Mittelland Canal and was Europe’s largest inland lock at the time of opening. The construction of the lock began in 1919 and after a construction period of about 9 years, the lock was officially opened by State President Hindenburg on 20 June 1928. The lock has two lock chambers, each with a width of 12 meters and a length of 225 meters. The difference in height that is covered is 14.7 meters. (57 feet).

Don’t leave the ship, we will be soon on our way again…

Note: if you would like to enlarge the smaller pictures just click on the photo.

You are an adventurous soul. That sounds fun and exciting.
The photography is a joy to experience. Over here, we raise
the bridge ( a section is mechanized so it opens up to let
tall ships through). Having the ships lower their wheel houses
instead share the cost more effectively. I am always just a bit
awed by all that you have done and all that you do. It is a joy
to visit here and take awesome journeys through the lens of
your camera. Many thanks.

Thank you so much, my dear friend. It was for sure fun, and exiting because in fact I stepped back in my past. Of course a lot has changed, the ships are modern, all motorized and have much more high tech. But on board of the Alm my memories came back to life. In Holland we do have a lot of bridges too which will be raised for ships. These are mostly on the smaller waterways. Maybe due to the fact that there are so many bridges on these German canals, they might have chosen to do it this way.

I grew up aboard one of t he old fashioned ships
I remember the wheelhouse being taken down quite well..
And the opposite happened too….
When we were transporting flax, the wheel had to be elevated , so my father could see where we were going…
Adri is my niece 😊

Thank you, Hilda, for your response.
How lovely to meet you in here.
We never had flax so far I remember, but different sorts of coal , potassium, wood, grain and gravel. Sometimes iron as well.
I had a super time with Adri 🙂